1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a foam filling member used for filling a space of a structure with foam.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A foam filling member used for filling foaming material in a hollow structure, such as a pillar of a vehicle, is generally known.
For example JP Laid-open (Unexamined) Patent Publication No. 2003-146243 proposes a foam filling tool as an example of the foam filling member, which comprises a foaming base material formed of material which is foamed by heating from outside, a supporting member having a supporting plate for supporting one side of the foaming base material, the foaming base material being formed in generally annular form to correspond in size to the supporting plate, and an annular weir wall, projected from one side of the supporting plate, for supporting an inner circumferential wall of the foaming base material.
According to this foam filling tool, when the foaming base material is heated from outside after the foam filling tool is set in place in a hollow room such as a pillar of a vehicle, the foam filling of the foaming base material is suppressed with respect to a longitudinal direction of the hollow room by the supporting plate and is accelerated with respect to a direction substantially orthogonal to the longitudinal direction orienting toward the inner circumferential wall of the hollow room to produce the foam. Also, this foam filling of the foaming base material is prevented from progressing toward a center of an opening of the foaming base material by the annular weir wall of the supporting plate. This can allow the effective and smooth filling of the hollow room with the foam produced using a very small quantity of foaming base material to be foamed by heating.
In the foam filling tool described in JP Laid-open (Unexamined) Patent Publication No. 2003-146243, the weir wall and a retaining claw for retaining the foaming base material to the supporting plate are provided separately from each other on the supporting member. Due to this, the foaming base material must be retained to the retaining claw, while the foaming base material is placed around the weir wall, for fixing the foaming base material to the supporting plate, thus making the fixing work cumbersome and complicated.
Also, since the supporting member itself is also required to have the configuration that the retaining claw is arranged separately from the weir wall on the supporting member, a molding cavity of a molding die for molding the supporting member is complicated in shape, thus causing cost increase.